Menendez says he will stay in US Senate despite resignation calls
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[September 29, 2023]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Embattled U.S. Senator Bob Menendez
left a closed-door meeting with fellow Democrats on Thursday insisting
that he will remain on the job despite calls for his resignation over
federal charges he accepted bribes.
“I will continue to cast votes on behalf of the people in New Jersey as
I have for 18 years and I am sure when they need those votes, there'll
be looking forward for me to cast those votes," Menendez told CNN
following the gathering, which lasted for about an hour.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin repeatedly told reporters that Menendez
conveyed during that meeting that he would not resign, and Manchin said
no senators posed any questions to the 69-year-old lawmaker.
Menendez has temporarily stepped down from his chairmanship of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was replaced by Democratic
Senator Ben Cardin.
Many of the Democratic senators leaving Thursday's meeting refused to
comment to reporters.
One of the most outspoken Democrats demanding a resignation, Senator
John Fetterman, told reporters that he did not attend the lunchtime
meeting. He added, however, that Menendez was "continuing a level of
arrogance that is astonishing." He told reporters: "I would like to
pursue whatever avenues are available" to get Menendez to leave,
including a move in the full Senate to expel him.
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It would take a two-thirds vote of the 100 senators to remove a senator.
That has occurred only 15 times in U.S. history, 14 of which were during
the U.S. Civil War for supporting the Confederacy.
At least 27 senators in the 51-member caucus - Democrats and three
independents who typically vote with them - have called for Menendez'
resignation including No. 2 Senate Democrat Dick Durbin. Gary Peters,
the head of the Senate Democrats' campaign arm, and Menendez' fellow
senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker, joined the call.
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![](../images/092923PIX/news_x16.jpg)
U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) delivers remarks, after he and
his wife Nadine Menendez were indicted on bribery offenses in
connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey
businessmen, in Union City, New Jersey, U.S., September 25, 2023.
REUTERS/Mike Segar/ File Photo
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Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, said on Wednesday
Menendez' behavior fell below the standard appropriate for a
senator, but stopped short of calling for him to resign.
Prosecutors have said Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez,
accepted gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange
for using their influence to interfere with law enforcement probes
of three New Jersey businessmen and aid the Egyptian government.
They pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday.
Menendez' Senate seat is in play in the 2024 elections. Though New
Jersey has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972, his
legal troubles could pose problems for his party, which is trying to
maintain its narrow control of the chamber. Menendez has drawn one
challenger to the seat so far.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Makini Brice and Moira Warburton;
Editing by Scott Malone, Jamie Freed and Cynthia Osterman)
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